Attorney General Becerra Joins Amicus Brief in Defense of Transgender Equity for Veterans

SACRAMENTO - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today joined a friend-of-the–court brief supporting transgender rights for veterans in the case Fulcher v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The brief defends a veteran’s right to health care coverage from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) for medically necessary care such as sex reassignment surgery.

“It is unacceptable for the federal government to discriminate against our transgender veterans, who have sacrificed so much for our country, by denying them coverage for necessary medical care,” said Attorney General Becerra. “In California, we make sure medically necessary care is covered because no veteran should be unable to receive care their physician says is critical. Across the country, the least we can do for veterans is provide the health coverage they need.”

Attorney General Becerra is committed to ensuring that California veterans are treated equally when seeking medically necessary services from the VA. This case presents an issue of public health and transgender equity, as this is the first time an appellate court will address transgender rights to health care outside of the prison context. California state law prohibits discrimination by private insurers. In fact, it provides such coverage for procedures like sex reassignment surgery through Medi-Cal and CalPERS.

Attorney General Becerra joined the attorneys general of Washington, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont and the District of Columbia in filing the amicus brief.

Attorney General Becerra is standing up for the transgender community. In March and May, Attorney General Becerra joined friend-of-the-court briefs supporting transgender rights in the United States Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. Last year, the California Attorney General’s Office joined an amicus brief filed with the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina in United States v. North Carolina and Carcano v. McCrory, and an amicus brief before the Northern District of Texas in State of Texas v. United States, both in support of transgender rights.

A copy of the brief filed today is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.